Desiring for Someone to Fight for Me!

When I was growing up we had a forest preserve close to my house.  My friends and I would pull out some hammer & nails, blocks of wood, and build some forts and cause trouble.  One day my dad curiously asked to see where I was spending all my time.  So I took my dad down into the forest preserve.  The one day I decided to show my dad where I was spending all my time was the same day, and only day I could ever recall, when there was a failed bank robbery and a police chase that ended up near our house. 

As we were in the woods, we could hear the sirens from a distance.  Soon those sirens ended up right outside the tree line of the forest preserve.  I told my dad that we should leave/run, but my dad not wanting to be confused with the chase told me to stand still.  All of a sudden the bank robber came running into the woods.  Actually he was running right toward us without seeing us.  All of sudden as he got close, my dad placed himself between me and the bank robber. When the bank robber saw my dad and I, he turned and ran in a different direction.

It was confirmed, that which I already known, my dad was willing to fight for me!  I think this longing, this desire for someone to fight for us, can be found in all our aspects of life!  We seek it from our teachers when we were kids; if we are struggling we wanted a teacher that would work with us to succeed.  We seek it in our coaches; if we are struggling we want a coach to stick by our side even when we aren't playing our best game.   We desire it in our friends; that they would stick up for us when others are saying bad things about us.  We desire it from are bosses; that they will defend our work.  We desire it from our family and close loved ones.  And we even desire it from our politicians.  If we looked at how people voted in this past election, we can see why people voted for their candidate!  Their vote was based on their belief that the candidate would best fight for their rights!

It's no difference in our faith.  We desire for a God who will fight for us!  And yet, how many people out there, including ourselves, may feel that God is distant?  From a loss of a loved one, to a possible terminal diagnosis, to a loss of a job, or even brokenness within our family.  Do we acknowledge God's presence in our life?  Do we see God fighting for us? 

This is why it is so important that the Church celebrates every year, which we celebrated this past weekend, the Solemnity of Christ the King!  Getting past our own misconceptions of modern day monarchies; the role of the king was not to be separated from the people, but someone who fought for his people!  King Saul and King David, after they were anointed by Samuel as king of Israel, they went off to battle to fight Israel's enemy.  We too have a King willing to fight for us.  All we need to do is look at Jesus Christ on the Cross.  Christ enters into our battles of loneliness, doubt, despair, and even death to bring us into his Kingdom.  How great it is that we have a King who is willing to fight for you and me!